1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to pads of embossed, self-stick, removable paper and processes and apparatus for making the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Note pads made up of stacks of self-stick, removable sheets of notepaper that can be removed from the pad one sheet at a time and applied to various surfaces for use as reminder notes or for sending messages to others have been commonly used for many years in business, industry and in households. Such pads of self-stick notepaper come in various colors. However, other than the variety of colors in which such pads are available, they are, for the most part, made up of plain, non-decorative notepaper.
Applicants have envisioned that it would be desirable to provide pads of self-stick notepaper that are considerably more decorative than those currently available. In particular, they have envisioned providing pads of self-stick decoratively embossed notepaper. However, they have determined that currently available methods and apparatus for manufacturing pads of self-stick, removable paper cannot be used for making such pads of embossed self-stick removable paper.
Conventionally, to form a note pad of self-stick, removable notepaper, an apparatus comprising a web-fed press is used. A web-fed press is designed to accept paper in a continuous sheet from rolls rather than in individual sheets. It is considered necessary to provide a continuous feed (i.e., web-feed) of paper so that adhesive may be applied to the sheet in a continuous manner. Continuous application of the adhesive is preferred to provide an adhesive coating of uniform width and thickness to the sheet. Typically, following application of the adhesive and a release agent, the continuous sheet is cut into individual sheets, which are then stacked and cut into pads.
Available methods for embossing a continuous sheet of paper such as in a web-fed press using an embossing roll are problematic. If embossing of good depth, quality and accuracy of registration with other elements of a design on a sheet are desired, individual sheets of paper must be embossed. Also, the individual sheets must be embossed prior to application of adhesive and/or a release agent. Consequently, pads of embossed, self-stick removable paper as envisioned by the present invention cannot be made using a conventional web-fed press. However, a conventional sheet-fed press, wherein individual sheets of paper are transported separately through the apparatus, cannot be utilized to form the embossed, self-stick pads of paper of the present invention because such sheet-fed presses are not capable of applying adhesive to the individual sheets in a continuous manner so as to insure uniformity of application of the adhesive coating and release agent to each individual sheet.
Accordingly, there is a need not only for pads of embossed self-stick notepaper that are more decorative than currently available pads of self-stick paper, there is also a need for a method and apparatus for making such pads of embossed, self-stick paper.